Washington — The nation’s postsecondary institutions and system offices employed 3.54 million people in the fall of 2006, an increase of 2.4 percent over the previous year, according to a report released today by the U.S. Education Department.

In 2006, 65 percent of employees worked full time and 35 percent were part-timers. By sector, 66 percent worked at public colleges and universities, 28 percent were at private nonprofit institutions, and 6 percent were at private for-profit institutions.

Of the total, 3.47 million, or 98 percent, were employed at 4,469 degree-granting institutions, while about 70,000 worked at the 2,296 non-degree-granting institutions eligible for Title IV student-aid programs.

In the fall of 2006, postsecondary institutions employed 1.3 million full-time professionals, excluding medical-school staff members. Of those employees, 639,624 had faculty status, including 287,898 with tenure, 120,309 on the tenure track, 132,883 not on the tenure track, and 98,534 at institutions with no tenure system.

The report, “Employees in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2006, and Salaries of Full-Time Instructional Faculty, 2006-07,” contains summary findings from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System surveys on staffing and pay and fringe benefits conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, an arm of the Education Department.

The report says that the average pay in 2006-7 of full-time professors, excluding those at medical schools, was $67,316. Data on faculty pay in 2006-7 by institution, compiled by the American Association of University Professors, was reported in The Chronicle last April. —Jean Evangelauf